Tools Of The Trade, January 2024

I’m putting this down now so I can revisit it mid-year and end of year.

This is a list of the current tools I use to get work done.

NOTEBOOKS: Always a classic black-hardback Moleskine ruled pocket notebook as my main zibaldone-style notebook. I fill between two and six of these a year. Field Notes notebooks are used for specific projects that have been broken out of the main notebook. I keep a daybook in the office, a lemon-coloured LEUCHTTURM1917 A6 hardback notebook, the obnoxious yellow of it and the pen guaranteeing I can’t lose the damn thing.

PENS: My new daily driver is the Pentel EnerGel XM BL77 0.7mm. I keep a few Sharpies around, and a couple of Pigma Micro 03 pens in black at 0.35mm. The daybook is matched with a LEUCHTTURM1917 Drehgriffel Bauhaus Edition Ballpoint Pen, that I’ve taken the ballpoint out of and replaced with a G2 gel pen refill. As the name suggests, it is in fact a revival of a Bauhaus design, which gives me pleasure.

DESKTOP APPS: it’s simple. Microsoft Word, Final Draft, Chrome, Gmail, Google Calendar.

STREAMING: these count as tools. MUBI, Prime Video, Amazon Music, Netflix, Curiosity Stream, BBC iPlayer, Eastern European Movies, ARTE.

WHITEBOARDS: one big one, four small ones, held up with Command Hooks. I can see my entire business at a glance just by lifting my head, because they’re all mounted on the wall in front of me, over the monitor

LAPTOP: an old ThinkPad T580 bought in 2018 running Windows 10 and plugged into three Western Digital external drives and an Asus 21.5 inch external monitor that I bought in 2014. This is not interesting, but it’s worth noting all these things are still running. At least two of those external drives were bought in 2013/4.

iPhone 14 Pro: I hates it. It’s too big, it’s not responsive, its wi-fi reception is lousy, Shortcuts remains arcane, Siri isn’t great and speech-to-text still doesn’t like my voice. But, in fairness, neither do I.

PHONE APPS: for work, it’s Signal, Zoom, Google Calendar, Wikipanion. I have WhatsApp, but that’s family and friends – unlike the UK government, it seems nobody I work with uses it. The only things I write on the phone are text messages and emails, and I prefer to save the latter for the desktop where possible. I read on it too much, of late. I’m looking forward to that little pocket-sized AI assistant that I can ask questions of and get useful answers back.

AirPods Pro: workday earbuds for phone calls, walks, listening through work materials.

Echo Buds 2nd Gen: the outdoor earbuds – superior noise cancelling and a firmer fit than the AirPods, which makes them suitable for gardening work. Though the fit isn’t quite as firm as the 1st Gen Buds, which were perfect. These are the ones I wear first thing in the morning when I’m drinking my first coffees outside, as they screen out the howling of the chickens demanding their breakfast.

Apple Watch 3: I started wearing smartwatches in the days of the Pebble Steel, and, in the times when I need to stay connected, I like not having to pull out my phone every time it pings.

iPad Pro 2020 12.9 inch: this is for reading documents in the evenings and doing Zoom calls downstairs in comfort.

Kindle Paperwhite: I have two. One lives in the bedroom and one lives downstairs or in a travel bag. I frequently use the Send To Kindle functions to send text documents to them for review.

PRINTERS: HP Envy Inspire 7220e printer/scanner/copier, Instax Link mini-printer.

I feel like I could reduce this more, but I’m not sure how. Leaving it here for now.